Answering the call: Disabled Smyth veteran and family get new home after Helene's destruction
Janet and Steven Stanley got a chance to enjoy their new home on Wednesday. Hurricane Helene destroyed their Currin Valley home by rerouting a spring under the home.
Assistant County Administrator Clegg Williams, far right, watches as Steven and Janet Stanley are welcomed to their new home in Marion.
Janet Stanley climbs the steps to her new home and greetings from some of the people who helped coordinate the work to get the family a new home.
Officials with Smyth County, the Mount Rogers Planning District Commission, and the American Legion were eager to welcome the Stanleys home.
Wednesday morning, Steven and Janet Stanley accepted the key to their new house in Marion. That key opens far more than a door. It unlocks life in a house that isn’t sinking and includes running water, a basic aspect of life the Stanleys haven’t known since Hurricane Helene struck more than two years ago.
Janet well remembers Sept. 27, 2024, the day the storm struck, coming on the heels of heavy rain. “It was bad,” she said. Trees were coming down, rolling down the mountain toward their Currin Valley home. “The water was coming up.”
In Helene’s immediate aftermath, Steven said they didn’t realize how severe the damage was. Disabled with a broken back, he described cutting up eight trees and getting their remains off the house roof. He felt fortunate that only the roof over the back porch was destroyed.
However, the storm’s true toll quickly revealed itself.
Smyth County’s Assistant County Administrator Clegg Williams explained. The home’s water came from a spring, which Helene rerouted. The new course took the water flow under the home.
The ground under the house quickly became saturated, and the home became a sponge.
When he saw it more than a year later, Williams said the bathroom’s floor system had been destroyed, and the home was sinking.
Anyone who walks around the house sinks with it.
The family, which includes sons Jesse and Ray, lost running water entirely.
Steven and his family tried to make do and tough it out, carrying water from the river.
“It’s a job,” Steven said of the task that he’d undertake daily, sometimes multiple times a day. With his back disability, he could only fill and carry one five-gallon container at a time.
“I fell in the creek twice,” he recalled.
Yet, for two-plus years, he’s persisted.
The family, Steven said, also bought a good bit of bottled water and gratefully got drinking water from Falling Water Baptist Church, where they attend.
Looking around his new home with working faucets and cabinet doors that easily open, Steven said, “I never thought I’d see this day.”
Standing at the kitchen island, Steven imagined the new stools he’d ordered sitting there.
Resting in the living room, Janet was already dreaming about her bedroom. She’s ready for a comfortable space and a place where she can get around more easily.
On oxygen, Janet is today cancer-free after more than 30 radiation treatments and chemotherapy.
On the day that Helene struck, Janet said, “I had faith the good Lord would take care of us.” Wednesday, she felt certain of God’s providence, though it seems fair to say that he worked through many hands.
The first set of hands and voice belong to Mark Chaney, American Legion Post 18’s commander.
In May, Steven, a veteran and American Legion member, asked Chaney if he would help them get a water line run to their house.
Chaney, who has gotten to know county officials by attending Board of Supervisors meetings and working on other projects, went to Williams.
That same day, Williams called staff at the Mount Rogers Planning District Commission (MRPDC), which is headquartered in Marion, and asked them to meet him, Chaney, and the Stanleys at their home.
He recalled PDC staffers saying, “Let’s go now.”
When they got there and stepped out of their vehicles, they sank into the now swampy ground.
During the summer, officials brainstormed options. Early this year, Smyth County was awarded grant funding to rehabilitate homes still damaged by Hurricane Helene. Still, relatively quickly, all parties concluded that the home couldn’t be repaired. A project timeline simply said, “…the best path is moving the family to a new home.”
Officials began to assemble funding, including from a Community Development Block Grant urgent needs program, the Department of Housing and Community Development’s Virginia Disaster Assistance Fund, the Smyth County Community Foundation, and other sources.
The MRPDC works with Marion’s Economic Development Authority on its Project BAUD: Blighted, Abandoned, Underutilized, and Dilapidated Properties, which has transformed multiple properties into new homes.
The family got to look at a couple of those homes that were available.
This summer and early in the fall, the home was secured and prepared for the Stanleys. They signed the paperwork on Wednesday.
Williams credited Smyth officials’ connection with the MRPDC for getting the work off the ground quickly.
“The stars aligned,” he said.
Williams and County Administrator Shawn Utt both said that partnerships and communication were essential in this endeavor.
Utt thanked the American Legion for starting the process that led to “such a beautiful moment.” He reflected that it was good to be the facilitator of such a project.
On behalf of the American Legion, Brenda Chaney extended her gratitude to the community, to everyone who came together for this “great couple, great family.”
“This is a beautiful story,” she said.
As the Stanleys walked in the front door, Steven quietly said, “This is us.”
Later, he declared, “I love it.”
Steven also offered thanks from the bottom of his heart, from the whole family’s heart.
Auna Louthian, an MRPDC project manager, was involved in the project from its early days.
She described the work as career and life changing, giving understanding to “why we do what we do.”
Louthian said she will remember this project throughout her life. Plus, she said, “I’ve gained a whole new family.”
She promptly got invitations to join the Stanleys for holiday meals.
Utt hopes this story may reach others who sustained damage during Helene and still need help, prompting them to seek assistance.
Many of those who helped bring the endeavor together joined the family over sandwiches, fruit, and cookies Wednesday – a simple but communal meal.
After the family gets moved, Steven said he’s looking forward to “peace and quiet. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to relax.”
After an hour or so, the family was already settling in as was evidenced by Janet smacking a son’s feet off a new ottoman.
Come Dec. 3, she and Steven will mark their 44th anniversary in the new home.
A project summary included a message of gratitude that read: “Thank you to everyone who came together to give the Stanley family a safe, good home. To Smyth County, the Town of Marion, American Legion Commander Mark Chaney for speaking up, to Clegg Williams for answering the call that same day, to the PDC, and every funder and partner who found a way to say yes. Mr. Stanley doesn't ask for much, but he has always served his community. The Stanleys have spent years volunteering and helping their neighbors.”
A partial list of those who formed the needed partnership included Smyth County, the Town of Marion, The American Legion, the Smyth County Community Foundation, the Department of Housing and Community Development, the Smyth County Chamber of Commerce, McNeil Furniture, and Food City.
